THE DETERMINANTS OF SOCIAL-SECURITY, IN DEVELOPING-COUNTRIES - A COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS

There is a conspicuous absence of empirical quantitative studies on st ructural determinants of social security in the third world. Using reg ression analysis, this study looks at the developing countries to vali date the convergence thesis. In a sample of 29 developing countries, m ost determinants predicted by the convergence thesis are not significa nt. Urbanization is the only variable which is significant. At first s ight, the impact of urbanization on social security spending would val idate the convergence thesis. However, any interpretation of the influ ence of urbanization in the developing countries needs to be cautious, since it may not be closely related to economic development and indus trialization.